Ps 3

In Psalm 2 Yhwh terrifies the nations through his declaration that he “has installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” In this psalm, David, the messiah, is no longer in Zion. He has been removed from his throne through the rebellious acts of his son, Absalom. He is, in other words, in exile. The unity that should obtain between messiah-and-Zion has been severed. Psalm 3 is the drama that unfolds when the messiah is in exile, when Zion and Messiah are no longer a unity, when Adam has been cast from the Garden. As we will see, their separation does not mean severance. The messiah and Zion are still tethered, and it is the messiah’s duty during his time of exile to remember his installation and the covenant, and to petition his father to bring him back to Zion.

O Yhwh / how many are my foes

How man / rise up / against me

How many / are saying of me

                There is no victory / for him / from God. Selah

These lines seem similar to the opening lines of Psalm 2 where the nations, warriors, and princes were arrayed against Yhwh and his messiah. They have “joined together as one” against them. They “murmur murderously”. They want the messiah dead. Psalm 2 then shows their act of unity is an attempt to free themselves from Yhwh’s and his anointed’s authority—to break their bonds and cast off their fetters. They want their nations to be unshackled from Yhwh and his anointed.

Here, the messiah cries out to Yhwh, lamenting “how many” are his foes who have risen up against him. They have come to attack him.

Their accusation that God will not grant him victory contains several things to ponder. First, the enemies rarely in the psalms use the divine name Yhwh. We might say that either they do not know the divine name or that they are permitted to speak it because it is holy. They cannot take it on their lips. Second, and along these lines, the fact they cannot pronounce the divine name also means that they do not fully know Yhwh’s character. To them, Yhwh is like any god and they understand him according to other gods. That David has been exiled from the sacred city, Zion, could lead them to believe that his exile is a sign of disfavor and, therefore, he is utterly vulnerable and without divine aid. As we will see later, the separation/exile of the son from the Zion does not mean that the father has abandoned the son; he will “answer him from his holy mountain” when he petitions him. He is still his “shield” and “glory” and the “One who holds up my head.” The son’s petition will close the gap of exile. That is an aspect of Yhwh the enemies likely do not grasp. Exile does not mean the severing of the relationship between father and son such that no victory is possible. (“My god, my god, why have you abandoned me….”).

But you / O Yhwh / are a shield / round me

                My glory / and the One who holds up my head

Psalm 2 then shifts to a statement of confidence—to Yhwh’s laughter and proclamation regarding his installing his king on Zion, ‘my holy mountain.’ It details Yhwh’s granting of creation to his son, the messiah, and that he would be granting him creation so that he would bring about order (through the rod of iron).

Here, the messiah shifts to a statement of confidence, acknowledging that Yhwh shields him from every angle. That Yhwh is his “glory”, the one who infuses him with the divine power and might, and who holds up his head. Psalm 2 describes those as blessed who “seek refuge in him” (presumably meaning the messiah). That refuge, though, is dependent, of course, on Yhwh as his father. What we see here is the “inner working” of protection between the son-and-the-Father. If the son is to be a refuge for all, it is because the father is the refuge of the son.

In light of what we said about enemies use of the term “god”, the son uses the divine name, Yhwh. He knows what his enemies do not—that Yhwh remains with him, protecting him, and is his glory and sustenance. This disconnect between the enemies and the son is a key theme of the psalm, just as it was in Psalm 2. There, as here, their approach to the messiah is filled with anger and misunderstanding. In Psalm 2, the enemies believed that by breaking their bonds to Yhwh and his anointed they would obtain freedom. But, it was precisely the opposite. By rebelling against the father and his son, they were rebelling against creation itself and were making themselves subject to destruction. They failed to understand that Yhwh was the Creator and that he was also the father of the messiah and had given all of creation over to him. There was no ‘place’ of freedom that they could run to because it was all inhabited by Yhwh and his son. Here, the enemies believe that the son’s exile from Zion means he is vulnerable, that Yhwh will not come to save him. They have failed to perceive how close is the connection between Yhwh and his son. We might say that they have failed to perceive the nature and strength of their covenant.

I will cry out loud / to Yhwh

And he will answer me / from his holy mountain. Selah

The people of Yhwh, throughout the Scriptures, “cry out loud” to him. Yhwh invariably responds with deliverance. Here, the son “cries out loud” to his father, and he knows that the will answer him. Notably, he does not answer him “from heaven” but “from his holy mountain.” We will recall that in Psalm 2 Zion is the place where the messiah is ‘born’. It is his home. It is his throne. And it is the unique place where the unique son is installed. To answer him “from his holy mountain” is to answer him from the place of his exile, showing that the deliverance will be a return to Zion.

I lay down / then I fall asleep

I awakened / because Yhwh sustains me.

The element of trust is key to this psalm. The son/messiah cries aloud to his father, Yhwh. His confidence and trust in him are so great that not only is he certain that Yhwh will answer him, but it enables him to sleep. This ability to sleep is incredible. On some level it is likened to Yhwh’s laughter in Psalm 2—both of them react with utter confidence directly in the fact of rebellion. For Yhwh, the nations’ rebellion amounts to something ridiculous and causes in him a mocking laughter. For the son-messiah, the “multitudes of the people” are so dwarfed by his confidence in Yhwh that he falls asleep. One can already sense here the future son-messiah who will fall asleep in the boat that is beset by the chaos-waves, secure and confident in his father’s regard for him. And, who will ultimately fall asleep on the cross, to later be awakened by his father who sustains him.

We need to explore this a bit deeper. In Psalm 2 Yhwh’s confident laughter is followed by his terrifying address to the nations, an address that is intended to reorient them toward himself and his son. By contrast, here the son’s confidence results in sleep, an utterly vulnerable state of being that throughout the Scriptures abandons those who are in distress (who are, in other words, in the son’s position). The point is that the son can become utterly vulnerable when he resides within his Father’s protection. The Father, in a sense, “goes out” to the nations. The son can go “within himself”—and they both express the covenantal dynamic between them, even though one could characterize them as opposite responses.

While perhaps obvious it needs to be stated that the son’s confidence is not simply in his father’s presence, but in his confident assurance that his father will destroy his enemies and bring him back from exile. It is concrete and looks forward to a time of deliverance and return.

What we see here is key—the son is here entering into the confidence of his father, Yhwh, such that his sleep expresses the Father’s utter mastery and control. He is not simply detached from his father. He is sleeping “in his father”.

And, just as he will rise in his father, so too will his rising anticipate, or participate in, his father’s rising, giving him victory, destroying his enemies and bringing him home to Zion.

Just as his sleeping is not simply his entering nocturnal rest, so too is his waking more than simply “waking up”. His waking is described as an act of his father’s sustaining hand.

I will not fear / the multitudes of the people

Who / on every side / have deployed against me

This verse represents the statement of trust that allowed him to sleep. Yhwh, his father, is a shield around him. Here, the multitude of people are “on every side” and, militaristically, have “deployed against me”.

Rise up / O Yhwh

                Give me victory / O my God

Oh that you would smite / all my enemies on the cheek

Oh that you would smash / the teeth of wicked men.

In Psalm 2, Yhwh tells his son that all he needs to do is ask and he, Yhwh, will give to him the nations and, more extravagantly, the “ends of the earth”. There, the son is not described as actually making the request, although it is implied because the nations are encouraged to voluntarily submit to the son’s authority (to “kiss the son”) so as to avoid being destroyed by his anger. Here, we get a glimpse into the son’s petition to Yhwh. The dynamic of the request is important.

I say ‘dynamic’ because his request carries important insight into his relationship with Yhwh and how they interact with each other. The son implores Yhwh, his father, to “rise up” in the same fashion as the arc of covenant would be ‘raised up’ in battle, displaying Yhwh’s “going with them” on their behalf. That is why to “rise up” is almost synonymous with Yhwh giving him victory. If Yhwh goes with him, victory is assured, because Yhwh would be fighting both in and through the army. They would be a ‘divinely infused’ army, a heavenly host.

In Psalm 2, the “rod of iron” that Yhwh gives his son was the divine weapon that would destroy the nations, smash them like a potter’s vessel. Here, the son attributes that destruction not to himself but implores Yhwh to do it—to smite the enemies on the cheek with such devastation that it would smash their teeth. Just as they taunted with their mouths, so now would their mouths be destroyed, rendering them silent. Not eye for an eye but mouth for mouth. Where their rebellion comes from is where the destruction would begin (one wonders if infertility is this rendering…). 

Victory / belongs to Yhwh

Your blessing / is upon your people. Selah.

In Psalm 2 Yhwh gives creation to the son, but this giving contained within itself the implication of his conquering or bringing into submission all of the nations and the ‘ends of the earth’. Here, the son gives that victory to Yhwh; it “belongs to Yhwh”. This victory, a victory that would take place through the son’s divinely empowered soldiers, is rendered to Yhwh. We see here, again, the from the son’s perspective, everything that comes from Yhwh is to be given back to him. In other words, from the father’s perspective, everything is given to his son; from the son’s perspective, everything is given to his father. Neither of them “grasp” at what they have but, instead, they both empty themselves into the other. And that emptying is the dynamism and life of the covenant.

In the conclusion of Psalm 2, ‘blessedness’ comes from seeking refuge in the son; and, as we saw, that blessedness in the son is because the son is “in the father”. Here, when we speak from the son’s perspective, we again see it all being given over to Yhwh. And just as victory “goes up” to Yhwh, so does his blessing “come down” upon his people. The evidence of the son’s abiding in the father, such that the nations can find blessing in him, is the son’s returning everything to the father in this continuous cycle of giving and returning, of giving and praise.

“Give me victory…Victory belongs to Yhwh”: as fervently as the son requests victory does he also return that victory to Yhwh. As much as he knows the victory obtained is through himself and his people, he also knows that it is entirely dependent on Yhwh.